Manufacturers of intravenously insertable medical devices such as guidewires, catheters and pacemaker leads traditionally apply coatings to those medical devices for various purposes. For example, friction reducing coatings are applied to the external surface of catheters and guidewires in order to enhance lubricity to facilitate the insertion of those devices within the veins and arteries of patients.
It is common practice to move the freshly coated medical devices to remotely located ovens to cure the coating by the application of heat, after the coating process has been completed. This approach to the coating and curing procedure has presented particular difficulties, including damage to the wet or uncured coated devices as they are being transported manually or robotically to curing ovens, as well as the substantial amount of processing time required to move the coated devices into and out of curing ovens. The ovens themselves represent a very substantial capital investment.
There exists a need for a coating and curing machine and process which is capable of effectively and efficiently coating medical devices and curing the coating at a single workstation by the use of a heating device which can be adjusted to accomplish the proper curing of different coating solutions.